


Flawed Assumptions

by Silenia



Category: Naruto
Genre: Academy Era, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author is currently bedridden with the flu - updates will have to wait a week or so, Drabble Collection, Gen, Non-Chronological, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Physical Disability, Self-Esteem Issues, Swearing, title might change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-03 08:41:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17280803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silenia/pseuds/Silenia
Summary: Some shinobi look at Naruto's behaviour and see only destruction wrought by a monster taken human shape. They're fools the lot of them, but with three wars in four decades Konohagakure has never been able to be allthatpicky in who's allowed to don the Leaf's hitai-ate.Others look at him and see a loud-mouthed brat, a prankster and an orange-clad menace—but human all the same. They're not wrong so much as barely scratching the surface, much less looking "underneath the underneath".Only a rare few recognize in Naruto a young boy desperately looking for the attention otherwise denied to him, and there is no doubt that he is. Yes, once the frantic search for acknowledgement is noticed, it's easy to look at his behaviour and recognizeallof it as looking for attention.Easy, but not right.





	1. Assumptions

**Author's Note:**

> A series of one-shot style vignettes and drabbles, all set in the same story/universe and with the same plotline loosely woven through them. Not chronological. I do not own the Naruto franchise, its characters, its plots, etc. You recognize it, it’s not mine.

The Sandaime Hokage often regrets that his duty to the entire village weighs more heavily than his duty to his once-successor's child, and that he is eternally behind on paperwork. If only he had more time to spend with Minato's boy, then maybe the child would calm down a little. 

Naruto is clearly just desperate to get attention of some kind. Between that bright orange eyesore of a jumpsuit, the constant pranking and his habit of shouting rather than speaking, it makes sense. Even Naruto's crush on, and bull-headed pursuit of, the loudest and most visible kunoichi-to-be in his class fits in well.

(Maybe he should talk to Naruto about **that** , though. Sure, they’re kids and it’s innocent enough for now. Naruto is undoubtedly persistent, but he wouldn’t do anything to that pink-haired classmate against her wishes. Besides, from Naruto’s ~~whining~~ talking over a bowl or ten of ramen, the girl is certainly capable of defending herself should he ever push too far.

Still, he should talk with Minato’s son, because they won’t be kids forever and some of his behaviour comes far too close to harassment, would _be_ harassment if they were a few years older. It will have to wait, though—because it _can_ wait a bit longer, unlike some of the paperwork on his desk.)

* * *

Iruka is sure he’s unmotivated and unwilling to pay attention—like the Nara heir, except worse. At least Shikamaru has a mother who will ensure he learns whether he wants to or not. At least Shikamaru is smart, unlike Naruto—and Iruka hates himself a little for thinking it, as it's hardly Naruto's fault he's not the sharpest kunai sticking from the corpse _—_ and can afford to not pay attention.

For Naruto clearly _isn't_ paying attention much of the time. Why else would it take half a dozen times calling his name to get him to respond? How else do you explain why the boy is unable to repeat back information from a lecture Iruka has just finished giving? Why he dozes off _while people are talking_?

(And yes, perhaps he should look into things, figure out if maybe there’s a different teaching method the boy would take better to. Some kids just don’t learn well in the standard classroom way, he himself was one of those. But between the painful reminder of what he’s lost and a classroom full of difficult kids to teach, he simply can’t find the energy.

Oh, he’s not stupid: he knows Naruto’s just the container not its contents...but between the whiskers and the orange, it’s impossible to forget just _what_ he contains even for a moment.)

* * *

His classmates figure he’s _weird_. Not white-eyes-quiet-girl weird like the Hyuuga heiress, not bugs-under-my-skin _weird_ like the Aburame, but _bright-_ _yet-_ _dim_ weird: very very visible, very very stupid. I mean, who even mispronounces _chakra_?

(Of course, his pranks are funny enough when you’re not the target, but between how annoying he can be and the dislike most adults clearly have for him, it’s easier to laugh _at_ him than laugh _with_ him. It’s not like he cares anyway.

If he did, he wouldn’t be so loud. No one goes out of their way like that to draw negative attention unless _getting_ negative attention doesn’t bother them.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts, beliefs and opinions held by characters don’t (necessarily) reflect my own. 
> 
> (That said, yes, if occurring in the real world, Naruto’s behaviour towards Sakura would be problematic, young age or no. So is Sakura’s behaviour towards Naruto, Sasuke’s behaviour towards...basically everyone, etc.  
> Shinobi are (understandably, I suppose) not exactly setting the high bar for healthy social interactions.)


	2. Limitations

No, in the end, it’s not the Hokage that notices first, too drowned in paperwork to do more than sit down with Naruto for a bowl of ramen every now and then. Between the lack of time and the obvious—if incomplete, for all that he’s unaware of this—explanation he’s found, he doesn’t have the time to ponder other possibilities.

(Not when sending the wrong shinobi on a mission might result in needless casualties, when sending the wrong draft of a letter might cause the daimyo to pull Konoha’s funding, when signing the wrong proposal might see Danzo get his hands on the boy.)

* * *

It’s not Iruka, teaching a class full of heirs to major clans, most of whom have major _troubles_ , too. He simply doesn’t have the time to help all of them—no matter how much it stings to acknowledge that—and with that in mind he can’t justify spending hours upon hours on Naruto or Shikamaru or even Sasuke (who for all his good grades is certainly no less troubled than the other two). Not when there are other kids just as deserving of the same time and actually _listening_. Actually _improving_.

(Oh, he’ll give some advice and sit down with them every now and then, over a bowl of ramen or with a shogi board, but until they find the motivation to _work_ on their problems, he’s better off puzzling out how to help those kids that are at least _willing_ to be helped.)

* * *

It’s not Kurama either, not that it would have helped if he had. Oh, the Fox _should_ have noticed, for he certainly has no one else than his host to even pay attention to, but fury and frustration cloud his mind much of the time, not helped by the pain of being torn apart by the Yondaime. Other than to rage at being locked up, he pays his host little mind. It’s probably just the brat’s youth anyway, for while he has been sealed before, it **is** the first time he’s held hostage in the guts of a kit this young. He might not be an actual fox, but the Sage of Six Paths had taught him and his siblings about the world they were born into, and Kurama knows that newborn kits and humans just don’t have the developed senses of their slightly older counterparts yet.

As the boy grows older, it’s easy to blame the seal instead, and it _is_ a different seal. The seal that keeps him imprisoned in the blond brat claws at his chakra constantly. A minor scratch each time, sure, but it stings and burns worse than the larger but far less frequent thefts Kushina pulled off. No, it's not a lot, but unlike Mito or Kushina, Naruto has a constant drip of Kurama's chakra in his coils—yet for all of that, Kurama has far less access to the boy’s mind. That the world outside this prison seems more subdued means he has far less access to the boy’s senses, too. Or maybe it's because not all of him is here in this seal. 

(He never even ponders it might neither be the seal nor him, but the host itself. Locked up as tight as he is in the seal, he couldn’t have done anything even if he had wanted to—but he wouldn’t have wanted. After all, keeping his jinchuuriki frustrated and weak is far more likely to allow for his escape than having a strong, calm host ever would.)

* * *

Kiba notices long before anyone else does, but he doesn’t **do** anything with it. It’s easy to blame the boy for it in hindsight, but he is young enough he lacks the much-needed frame of reference, young enough that he can’t quite tell if Naruto merely differs from him or differs from most people. It’s not even that he’s keeping it a secret, just that it’s not something he ever realizes is worth telling someone.

So he just talks loudly when he and Naruto are hanging out together in the park instead of sitting in a dusty classroom, and yeah sure, maybe sometimes he has to repeat himself. No big deal.

(So what if his sorta-friend sorta-rival truancy buddy doesn’t hear as well as he does? No one else in class can match his hearing, either. Barely anyone in the _village_ can, other than his family. He’s Inuzuka. _Of course_ his ears are better than most.)


	3. Expectations I: Shikamaru

Some would look at the Nara heir and come to the conclusion he doesn’t hold himself to high expectations. He’s scraping by on barely passing grades even though he’s smart enough he could easily do better. If given the chance, he opts to watch clouds rather than do homework. He naps rather than pay attention to lectures. Mutters “troublesome” at everything requiring a modicum of physical activity.

They’re not entirely wrong, of course. Shikamaru is a _Nara_ —and there’s a reason the internationally-feared clan of shadow users is within the safety of the Leaf better known for laziness and seeming lack of motivation.

But there’s also a reason the Nara are feared in the world outside Konoha’s walls—and Shikamaru _is_ a Nara.

So it’s not that he doesn’t hold himself to high expectations, not really. It’s that his expectations are in different areas than most; areas that lend themselves well to the yin-heavy nature of a Nara’s chakra, that lend themselves well to the strategic and tactical genius the Nara are often prone to. Areas that lend themselves to the role of _Shika_ to _Ino-Ch_ _ō_ , of his _strategy/capture_ to their _information/manipulation-strength/protection_ _—_ and raised alongside them, Shikamaru is well-aware of his future responsibilities to the other two-thirds of the trio.

So while perhaps unexpected to the less informed members of the Leaf, to any Nara, Akamichi or Yamanaka it’s not surprising to see frustration and annoyance in Shikamaru’s expression.

After all, now that he looks back, he can easily point out a dozen different pieces of the puzzle, see how they’re connected, how they’re meant to fit in—and he’s annoyed at not having put them together himself. Puzzles and sh _ō_ gi and theoretical scenarios are sort of _his thing_ (at least as much as naps and cloud watching are) and his expectations of himself in those areas are more than merely ‘high’. Had this situation been presented to him as a hypothetical scenario, he’d have had no trouble solving it. Why then, when the situation was actually in front of him, did he fail to recognize Naruto's hearing impairment?

(But really, in the back of his mind he knows—when you look at something expecting to see nothing, you’ll probably see nothing. It’s hard to solve a puzzle you don’t want to accept exists, and it’s hard to recognize the pieces when you’re going out of your way not to look at them. For all their intelligence, Nara are no more than any other immune to wilful blindness.)


	4. Observations I: Aburame Shino

When Shino sees Hibachi throw his kunai in such a way he is more likely to hit one of his classmates than the target he’s supposedly aiming at, it is only logical to head over to him and correct his stance. Why? The teachers are busy on the other side of the practice field and unlikely to notice until an accident has already happened. Their practice kunai are blunted, certainly, but not so blunt they're harmless. They stick in a target if thrown hard enough, which means they will just as easily stick in an actual person.

Hibachi’s decision to respond by snapping “buzz off, bug boy” and shoving him to the ground is unwarranted and illogical. Perhaps it should not have come unexpected, for Shino is well-aware his classmate often employs rude behaviour and uninspired insults instead of the logic and rational thought Shino himself favours. It is, however, the first time Hibachi directs them at him.

Yes, Shino prefers rational thought and logical behaviour, yet for all that he knows rationally that the insult says more about Hibachi than him, that it’s not even a _good_ insult, and that the only reason he hit the ground is because he did not expect this response, it still hurts to be snapped and shoved at rather than thanked. He will not further complicate his irrational feelings by deluding himself into believing he’s capable of responding with a calm, rational mind under such circumstances.

(Not that anyone _else_ has to know his response would have been decidedly irrational, considering he never actually gets the chance to give it.)

“Hey, keep your hands off him, ‘ttebayo,” he hears while he’s still on the ground, “not his fault you can’t throw worth shit!”

For all that he would normally wish to pinch the bridge of his nose at that comment—if there’s one person in class with no right to comment on someone else’s throwing ability, it’s Uzumaki—this time it is much appreciated instead. It’s not often a classmate comes to the defence of an Aburame in school-yard disputes, and even less common for it to be a classmate that is not in any way close to said Aburame.

For they share little in common other than their age, classmates and ambition to become shinobi. It is hard if not outright impossible for Shino to understand his classmate’s reasoning or predict his actions. It makes Uzumaki a common source of frustration to the young Aburame, who responds by spending as little time as possible in his presence.

(Not that it helps much, as the orange-clad blond is often loud enough he can be heard even from the other side of the classroom.)

Shino suspects that Uzumaki similarly does not quite understand _him_ , for much as Uzumaki does not tend towards reason, Shino does not tend towards emotion-based responses the way Uzumaki does. As such, much as he may _appreciate_ Uzumaki’s defence of him in the face of Hibachi’s assault upon his person, it leaves him no less puzzled than any of Uzumaki’s other behaviour does.

He and Uzumaki are not friends, and Uzumaki is prone to responding with similar hostility to correction. While Shino does not believe the blond would have shoved him as Hibachi did, a less-than-friendly verbal response would certainly not have been unlikely had it been Uzumaki in Hibachi’s place. While the _logical_ response might be to side with Shino, surely the _emotional_ response Uzumaki is more prone to would be for him to sympathize with Hibachi?

It is this confusion that makes him choose to surreptitiously observe his two classmates from behind his dark sunglasses rather than hurry to get back on his feet. His observation may not take all that long—the combined yelling of Uzumaki and Hibachi has caught the attention of Iruka-sensei, who arrives to separate the two boys now loudly trading insults back and forth—but Shino has seen enough to make him narrow his eyes behind his glasses as they walk back to the classroom. His previous hypotheses about Uzumaki seem to have been wrong, and while Shino can’t quite put the finger on _what_ , his mind keeps telling him that he’s overlooked a crucial factor necessary to understand his classmate.

(Surely, now that it's clear to him that an answer to the puzzle _exists_ , even if he can't see it quite yet, it's only logical to try to find it?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Shino, I'm not so sure it's _logic_ that makes you want to figure this out...


	5. Expectations II: Hinata

Hyuuga Hinata expects (too) much of herself. Hyuuga Hinata expects (too) little of herself.

Two seemingly contradictory sentences, but then there’s expectations and expectations. Expectations that are like _requirements_ : the Hokage expectshis Shinobi to follow their orders, to be loyal to the Leaf and to the Hokage. Expectations that are more like _predictions_ : the Hokage expectsthere to be at least one more attempt at getting control of the Uzumaki boy hidden in his current stack of paperwork.

When it comes to Hinata, most people are able to see one or the other, but few look past the clan’s reputation to see the shy, stammering girl long enough to see both.

So there are some would say the eldest daughter of the Hyuuga clan head holds herself to the same high expectations common in her fellow clan members. Far too high expectations in her case, perhaps, for she keeps grasping at goals well out of her reach—unwilling to settle for less, for even though she fails time after time to reach the wanted goals, she keeps working, keeps trying.

Some would say that Hiashi-dono’s eldest clearly expects little of herself. She keeps trying, perhaps, but does not expect herself to ever reach the goals she sets herself. She’s simply going through the motions but her heart isn’t quite in it; her faith in her own abilities long since dried up and scattered like fallen leafs caught by the wind. But she’s going through the motions, they acknowledge, and at least does not fail to uphold that _one_ expectation above all others.

Each display of inability to conform to the Hyuuga’s high standards is a blemish on the noble clan’s reputation—but at least Hiashi-dono has a second, more capable daughter who can take over as clan head once that time comes—yet even a lifetime of those blemishes could never add up to the stain that would be created by _unwillingness_ to do what her elders and clan head expect of her.

A lack of ability to act as needed is a shameful tragedy; a lack of willingness to act when needed treason.

Yes, Hyuuga Hinata expects too much yet too little of herself, and she would readily admit—if only to herself—that she is well-accustomed to failure and disappointment.

So she’s grateful that maybe now the boy she admires so much can get the help he deserves so much and can prove himself to others. That maybe finally others might see the same things in him she does. The relief and gratefulness she feels learning that the boy she admires so much was struggling with severely diminished hearing all this time are however overshadowed by a feeling of yet more failure and disappointment.

Not that _Naruto_ is a failure or a disappointment, of course. She could hardly blame the boy she admires so much for something he had neither a role nor choice in.

(She purposefully ignores thinking about that in combination with her own circumstances.)

Rather, she’s disappointed in the many people of Konoha who have failed him time after time. People with responsibilities to the blond. People who’re close to him, few as they might be. People who should have noticed something was up.

People like Hyuuga Hinata. She has spent hours watching Naruto from a distance, she’s from the very clan whose members are meant to see everything, yet _she_ hadn’t noticed either.

(But then, it’s hardly a surprise she’s failed him, is it? She knows perfectly well that failing people is all she’s ever been good at. Probably all she’ll ever  _ be  _ good at, too. Not good enough to lead the clan, not good to prevent Neji losing his father, not good enough to be Naruto’s friend. He helped her and yet again she failed someone she cares for)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally intended to post another drabble (the reveal of how Shino figured it out) prior to this one. 
> 
> However, this order should work too considering the drabbles aren't exactly chronological anyway and at least it means y'all get some sort of update. This one was already mostly ready to go, the planned drabble still only outlined, and I'm simply not thinking straight enough to write a drabble from near-scratch right now. (Editing on the actual posted drabble might similarly be a little rough)
> 
> Might be a bit before I get around to the next update for the same reason I'm currently trying to think my way through a thick fog inside my head: author is bedridden with the friggin' flu and running a fever jumping up and down between 102 and 104F.


End file.
